The dirty little secret of RNY...(long)

I am 3 months out and I am definitely undereating.

Why?  The surgery really was on my stomach, not my head.  It's not so much about fear of eating or lack of hunger, which I still don't feel.  But, I am still the same disorganized person I was pre-op.  When I am running behind in the morning, breakfast is the first thing to go, next is packing a lunch.  The next thing you know, I have gone the whole day (days, really) and I've eaten two Kashi bars and had a couple of bottles of water.  How to catch up after that, when my program does not encourage protein shakes?

I am a teacher, so these first couple of weeks are chaos while I find my teaching and planning rhythm.  Now I have to find the rhythm of eating and exercising as well.  I feel overwhelmed by  managing all of this, but I KNOW that is MUST be done.

I have my 3 month appointment next week, and I know those lab results are going to be a serious wake-up call, though I have been vigilant about vitamins.  When I go in, I'm going to schedule an appointment with the nutritionist because I need help figuring out what to eat.  I am not eating right at all and I know it.

I feel that there was a lot of guidance in the first few weeks post-op from my program about what to eat, pureed foods, amounts, etc.  Once I was off that menu, I was on my own, and I have pretty much been lost ever since.  I have days where I make my protein goal (70g per the doctor), but those days are the exception, not the rule.

That's exactly my problem. 

I just started school again and I've definately had even more problems.  I have an ulcer that was diagnosised in July and that cut my food during the meals, it hurts when I stretch it.  Also some of the meds require that I don't drink or eat before or after it, then I don't drink with or after my meal for at least 45 minutes.

So due to the ulcer I've had trouble with liquids, and food.  Now I'm back at school at realized that I had missed my lunch meds and would have to miss lunch or meds?  Choose to miss meds, but then again I know what will happen if I don't heal this ulcer. 

I am trying to get more calories in, and trying to keep up the protein, but I have to admit, it is so hard!!  Food just isn't interesting without citrus or tomatoe.  And now it seems like even a bit of snacking gets me in a bad spot because of my fears of failing at WLS and then gaining. 

As of now I worked really hard to up my calories and started to lose again in the last 2 weeks, but this week I'm stalled again.  Guess I just gotta keep up with it on my own!!

It is a crap shoot for me.  Kinda what you said in that some days are easier food wise than others.  Some days I just want to drink and not eat...I never do it, but there are days when eating just doesn't sound fun.

I tend to have a very boring menu by standards of folks here.  Why?  Well, it is the whole fat mind thing.  I know what made me fat.  I am okay with boring.  I really don't want to find my fulfillment in food again.  There is a local surgeon that runs our support group and he says that boring can lead to failure.  I am sure in some folks it could.  I do not believe I will fail myself.  I have come so far and dealt with so much that "failure" is not an option.  Don't get me wrong, I like the food I am eating, it tastes good and it provides me with what I need since surgery, but I don't do the whole gourmet thing because I choose not to (unless we are talking protein shakes. =}).  I have other things that I would rather spend my time on and that would be not concentrating on food other than planning what I need to get in to stay healthy.  Does that make sense?  I get what I need.  I pay close attention and away we go...

=]

I get the "too low calorie" thing completly. I have struggled with it from about the 2 month mark. I'm almost never hungry (we've chalked some of this up to my migraine medicine's side effects), I get really busy and forget to eat. My other bad problem though is I also forget to drink. Especially on the weekends. I do ok at work, but Saturday and Sunday don't go well sometimes.

This past week (I'm 10 months out) I've finally started journaling my calories so I can actually see what I'm taking in. Before just looking at my numbers now, I'm sure I was only getting 700-900 a day. Possibly 1000 on a good day. although I always go to the WAYET thread, I never go back and update it with what I actually ate.
 
I'm on day 4 of a 1200 calorie a day push. I FEEL better. I didn't really think it could make that much of a difference but it does. I hope it moves the scale a little to. But even if it doesn't I still feel better and that's whats important. I didn't have this done to be tired and listless all the time!
 

While I am not very far out yet, my dietician is already telling me that I have to increase my calories and add some carbs to my diet.   I am deathly afraid of carbs!   I am glad that I have access to a private dietician that I see every 2 weeks  between my surgeons post op visits. 

She is very good at pointing out where I can add calories and how to take better care of myself.   Before I see her next week I am suppose to have added and extra 200 calories a day to my intake.   I am no where near that but I am at least aware and trying.

For me, I definately have developed a fear of food.

I'm struggling with undereating and have been since my surgery.  Even on the first day I was allowed liquids at the hospital I only sipped water.  I didn't drink the broth or eat the Jell-O and popsicles that I was brought for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

I'm not much of a food planner but I've been good at making appropriate food choices.  I often get so distracted busy that I forget to eat or drink.  I've been faithfully logging my food into thedailyplate and I'm finding that it's a rare day I make it to 600 calories.  I'm getting my nut's recommended minimum protein if not more.  I upped my fat intake to help boost the calories, but I'm worried about exactly balancing the ratio of fats, carbs and proteins.

Right now I'm at 79g of protein for the day and I haven't eaten dinner.  I have had 579 calories though, 20 g fat and 18g carbs. 

This whole process is terrifying for me.  I have had no food intolerances.  Nothing has stuck, nothing has come back up, nothing has had me running to the bathroom.  I don't let myself be deprived of anything, but I'll usually only eat one bite of the "bad" stuff.  I do feel hunger and can even get ravenous to where I want to wolf down food if I forget to eat for long enough, but I don't really have cravings or an appetite.  I'm off my diabetes medication but I try to avoid lots of sugars, so I haven't really eaten much fruit.  I don't do veggies or starches that much either--most of my intake is beans, seafood, meat and dairy.

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I definitely am a closet anorexic at times. I use the term loosely because I do not have anorexia nervosa, but I too am TERRIFIED of food. I KNOW I'm not eating enough, I dont even get CLOSE to 1000/cal a day and i'm 10 mos out. My vice before surgery was binge eating, now I can't do that anymore, but I still have that pattern, of going a long time without eating that eating more in a short period of time. 

I'm trying to work out these issues, as i dont want to gain a single pound back and I still have about 40 or so to lose. 

Undereating is DEFINITELY a problem for me. As I really have no appetite (except when im pmsing) and most food doesnt' even sound good to me, I'm drinking more protein shakes these days just to be sure to get my protein in. I have symptoms of hypoglycemia too, so I'm working on it. 

My program stresses eating ONLY 3 meals a day, starting with protein first at each meal and no snacking. From the beginning I just didint' think that made sense, so I've sort of ignored that advice. 

I think they dont want us grazing which can lead to poor weight loss or weight gain, but only 3 meals a day isnt' enough, especially when i work 12hour shifts, I'm basically up from 5pm and don't go to bed until about 9am, and you're telling me In those 16 hours, I need to eat only 3 times? No way. 

 

 

This is a great topic - my surgery was 7/21 and I've lost 26 lbs so far (which I will happily accept) but I lose for a couple of days then go days or a week before the scale moves again.  I've been logging everything since I came home from the hospital but have only been keeping an eye on my protein, liquids and vitamins.  I decided to work out the stats for a typical work day (I pretty much eat the same thing Mon-Fri just because it's easy and I don't have to think, but I know I'm going to have to change it up at some point).  So, the numbers came out to 855 cal, 96 g protein,  39g fat and 91g carb.  Now, the carbs are straight readings from the nut label, not net or anything else.  I eat oatmeal every morning, so that's 26 carbs, then during the day the rest come from the powdered milk that I add to the oatmeal and protein shake (thank you Niki for suggesting adding pudding mix) and other dairy.  By the time I get home, I really don't care if I eat dinner or not, but I figure I've hit the minimum numbers for the day so I sometimes just eat a little Greek yogurt or a very small piece of chicken.  Right now I'm only eating because I know I have to, not because I'm hungry or want to.  I do try to get 60 oz of liquid - that's more of a struggle for me, but for the most part I think I make it.  So, having said all that...

...should I be losing more weight with these numbers?  I walk 2 miles a day (1/2 of that is uphill, so I do huff and puff).  I need to get the go-fit device to get a better idea of what's going on.  But since this is my "honeymoon" phase I want to make the most of it while I can.  I'm off all food restrictions as of today per my nut.  I've been very fortunate so far, no dumping, no nausea, no lactose intolerance, no problems (major constipation seems to be resolved for the moment) - so I'm knocking on wood for all of that.

I agree that the nutritionists don't go into these kinds of details - and after dieting all my life I too see food as the enemy (though it was my first go-to in the past) - so I just figured after surgery I would be eating teeny meals forever more and that's how this would work (as long as I didn't cheat with slider foods or graze all day).  But I see that ain't so...

Enjoying the  interesting and funny posts! Sometimes I sputter with laughter and always feel more informed and educated when I read them.  Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. Not all of us have your verbage abiltiy with articulate thoughts. There is a difference you know.  Great pic!

For me, my struggle is going to be with emotional eating.  I've had a rough start to my journey with my dear friend dying, taking on homeschooling my son, and in a month going back to school. 

Right now, my struggle is trying to follow my surgeon's plan of only eating three meals a day.  I know it's a crock of **** and my dietician told me to make it six smaller meals a day.  Today I tried the three meals and nearly passed out in WalMart tonight.  Not gonna do the three meals.  I have to admit that I'm a little afraid.  My sweet tooth has always been my downfall and surgery hasn't changed it.  I haven't dumped on Splenda or sugar alcohols, so I see that as a curse and a blessing- curse because it means I can eat sweet stuff and blessing because it means I can eat sweet stuff.